“I’ve had many jobs and relationships throughout my adult life, but due to concentration issues and not remembering tasks or routines, I have always been let go or dumped.”

I was the last born of 8 children and I was diagnosed with PKU. My oldest sister was not so lucky as newborn screening was not conducted at the time she was born. Growing up I was unaware that I had PKU or what PKU was and how it affected me. I knew inside that I was different, as I was always treated differently than my siblings that I lived with. I really wish I could write more on growing up with PKU, but I believe that due to being off diet for over 35 years and fluctuating on my blood levels, I have little to no memory of my childhood or growing up. I do have flashes of imagery in my head every now and then. I’ve had many jobs and relationships throughout my adult life, but due to concentration issues and not remembering tasks or routines, I have always been let go or dumped. I met my partner in 2007 and we got married in January 2010.

After we were together for a couple of years Darren questioned me as to why I had the shakes all the time and could not concentrate; during this conversation and me thinking “great another one that is breaking up with me because of this PKU crap”. I ended up telling Darren that I had PKU, but it did not affect my life…boy was I wrong! I did not see it, but he did, and he stuck around and researched what PKU was. I knew that I had concentration issues and the shakes, but I did not think it was that bad or connected with PKU; I just thought I was not that intelligent. We started looking into what would happen if I returned to diet and how it would affect my life. Since returning to diet Darren has said that he has drastically noticed that my concentration issues have mostly disappeared, and my shakes have all but disappeared, except when I have too much protein…my bad.